Our Next Chapter

In 2008, I joined along with one of my most close acquaintances at the time. Stu McLaren and I combined our skills together and created Member.

We had NO idea we were going to embark on a thrilling and unprecedented adventure. WordPress is increasing at a phenomenal rate. It was an exciting time. There was no clear answer, but there were a number of signs suggesting that WordPress will outdo Joomla and Drupal.

In order to put it in perspective, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga were turning heads in the new scene of music. Some of our current team members were in the first grade of school at the time we got started.

In the internet marketing world, discussions about membership sites were the talk of the town. There weren't any options for creating an online membership website using WordPress. Many development companies concentrated on themes. Consequently, the premium plugin market was essentially absent.

We saw it as an opportunity to take action quickly. Mike Lopez was our Jedi engineer who could design anything we challenged him with. He developed the first version of Member single-handed in less than 3 months.

Similar to my previous software businesses, we saw an opportunity to create the perfect solution to the typical issue. Naturally, Members saw some RAPID Growth. First year, it was all about words of word. The company grew by more than a year before we spent a dime on advertising.

This is the kind of opportunity entrepreneurs dream of.

At the beginning of our journey, we received our first request for information about selling the company. The response was very flattering, however they were looking for well-established brands where the founder is ready to retire. We were youthful and full of enthusiasm, so it made absolutely no sense.

Ultimately, the first inquiry provided a strong confirmation. Members were always "Built to sell" There were people in the market.

Shortly after the first inquiry I had a conversation with my friend, who I thought of as a reliable advisor. His entrepreneurial experience includes owning several different businesses. One of these is one that is a Venture Capital Firm. He also had sold other businesses previously. Naturally, this guy knows his stuff.

My friend gave me a helpful tip. He said, "the secret to selling a company, is to find out who is buying and make sure that everything you do about your company a perfect fit."

This advice made lots of sense, but there were a couple of small problems. When you're working with partners, you're not creating a company that one person would like to build. The partners have agreed to construct together. The second reason is that we cannot determine the purchaser.

There was a time when Stu and I decided to make Mike a minority partner. I believe it was in the year 2010.

Things changed significantly in Late 2014. Stu made the decision to pursue his passion for teaching and focus specifically on training people to grow profitable membership sites. Mike as well as I continued to work in the company that developed software.

Then, I was the major shareholder alongside member. It was scary as well as exhilarating at the same.

The leadership team I was part of and my made a visit to Colorado in order to focus on preparing.

It became abundantly clear that we needed to do some recalibration. It was time to put aside the focus on the things we've accomplished over the years and become focused on what we can achieve in the near future. Personally, I had to stop thinking about building a company I thought people would be interested in buying and start thinking about what type of business I'd like to run.

These past few decades have taught me a lot of things. A simple one is that Isolation is the death of entrepreneurs. The running of a business is extremely lonely in moments. It is essential to have connections and relationships that will help you bring harmony and balance to your forces.

There is no way to know when a relationship will turn into relationship...

I met Micah Mitchell at a conference. He was in a partnership with someone who sold an application similar to Member. A lot of people would have thought the company to be a serious competitor. I wasn't thinking much about it , and simply felt I was an admirer of his and I'd love to get to know him better.

In the next few years, and Micah was leaving his former collaboration and founded a business called Memberium. It was also the case that people considered him even more of a competitor now. The only thing I could say was that I liked him.

This was reinforced when I met him in the airport security line. We enjoyed a wonderful conversation, discussing what both of us were doing in our respective businesses, then we found out the seats we'd been given next to each other during the flight. Is this just a ploy? It's likely that someone lined this up. It was totally random.

Ironically, on that very same trip, we began brainstorming about the most infamous April Fool's Day joke where we would announce that Micah has just purchased Member. We thought it might be called Memberium. We might even tack 360 onto the name for kicks. Some people who read this might be able to understand.

It began as an unintentionally assigned seat next to my software competition (thanks Delta!) became a lasting friendship. The two of us would meet regularly to talk about business at dinner for the next couple of years. Sadly, our meetings came to an end after my family and I moved back to Tennessee. We made some great friendships throughout Utah as well. It was painful to say goodbye.

I am a huge fan of developing software. The excitement of seeing the idea realized is thrilling. It's even more thrilling when you're working with an incredible team, and your product is greater than you thought it would be. An excellent example is our latest release for the Courses Add-Ons for Member.

As exciting as all of this sounds, the fact is, it's also demanding. Just when you get to the line of one yard and it's nearing time to score, it's possible to be in a state of exhaustion from all the hard work.

When we had finished with the creation and plan to release the new product, I began to feel exhausted. I was starting to recognize the best option was to find a real marketing partner. A partner that understood the marketplace and could assist me take Member up to the next step. I've made a few calls to my most trusted business acquaintances. My wife reminded me that Micah is on my list of candidates. I promised my wife that I would call him back next day.

Just before I contacted Micah He randomly texted me a text message. It was almost similar to sitting with him on the flight. There are times when you know that things happen for a reason.

Discussions grew to an idea to sell Member to Micah's firm MemberShipper which is also the one that is supporting Memberium. It turns out what we'd been working on through Member was precisely the kind of thing MemberShipper wanted to expand their portfolio.

In the past, I've had hundreds of questions about selling the business. They've never felt right until now. It was extremely important to me to ensure that Member keep growing as a company. I also wanted to make sure our amazing team was properly taken care of.

Each step the process became more evident that it was the right next step for Member as well as the team, and for the many thousands of wonderful customers that have been with our company for so long.

I'm incredibly thankful for the teams of leaders from both sides. They've worked hard to make this transition as simple as they can for me. It's quite impressive to see the team working in a cohesive manner.

The common question I'm getting now is "What's coming up in your life?".

Although I think I'd do really well retirement, I truly need is a break. I'm planning to take some much-needed personal time off.

What's all this about if you're a Member customer?

In the simplest terms, anticipate the team to keep providing innovation and Member is constantly being developed and refined. The company isn't going to stop.

I'm committed to working with Micah and the rest the team for one full year. They've put me in a job that is easily my ideal job. I'm now the "Director of Strategic Partnerships" for both brands that are owned by MemberShipper.

Expect to see me at numerous gatherings in the coming months. My own personal goal is to provide as much value as possible in the coming year. I can't wait to see Member advance up to the next step under Micah's direction.

It's possible that I will remain around longer than anyone would have ever imagined.

I've never been more optimistic about the future of Member than I do now. We are just getting started.

The full message regarding the acquisition here.

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